St. Andrew’s, Scotland to London, England - Oct. 15-19, 2018

Ruins of St. Andrew’s cathedral

Castle ruins at St. Andrew’s on the North Sea

Edinburgh Castle

View of Edinburgh from the Castle

Skinny Anne & Maddy having fun

Looking up at Edinburgh Castle

If you have never seen the movie, Greyfriar's Bobby - DO

2018 & Bobby's nose has lost it's color from people rubbing his nose for good luck

And here Anne is in 1997 when she first visited Bobby - we never saw anyone rubbing his nose!

Great cemetary

Rosslyn Chapel (Site from the Da Vinci Code)

Beautiful shades of stones with intricate carvings inside

We stopped in this town to see castle used in Harry Potter movies 

Castle of Hogwart fame

Streets of York

Yorkshire Cathedral

Anne Hathaway's home in Stratford on Avon (Shakespeare's wife)

William Shakespeare's birthplace

Pod on the London Eye

View from the London Eye

Maddy & Mary Lou, fellow traveler from Arizona

More views from the Eye

Sunset from the London Eye - a 30 minute ride

So long to our fellow Trafalgar Travelers & Peter Lewis, our Welch Tour Director

Farewell to the UK and Ireland!

Anne and I flew to Krakow from London Friday morning, and we're now with Thom and Perun in Osturna, Slovakia.  Here's what we did during our last week on the tour:

On Monday we made our way to St. Andrew's,  Scotland, which is the home of golf.  We visited the ruins of the Roman Catholic cathedral, where St. Andrew's remains were buried, and the castle (in ruins since 1656).  Catholicism was outlawed in the mid-16th century by the Scottish Reformation.  This is a university town, and Prince William and Kate attended school here. 

We cross the Firth of Forth entering grand Edinburgh, founded prior to 1100 AD, the capital of Scotland since 1350.  Peter took us on a small city tour at night, when we visit Greyfriar Bobby's memorial and the adjoining cemetery where his master is buried.  We learn that J K Rowling wrote here in this town and found names for her characters in this cemetery.  Peter told us haunted tales in this cemetery, and we rub Bobby's bronze nose as we leave.  On Tuesday we take a city tour with Bob Black in his kilt and learn Edinburgh is built on 7 hills (as are Rome, Prague, Moscow, Mecca, Jerusalem and others), and the impressive castle is built on an extinct volcano.  In 1513 the walled city was established.  We move on to Roslin, the town where Dolly the sheep was cloned, and Rosslyn Chapel, which you might know from The DaVinci Code.  The carving of the stone, begun in 1456, both inside and out is unbelievably detailed.

On Wednesday we see green fields as we drive south on the Cumberland Coastal Road.  In the city of Alnwick we see from a distance the castle which, with the help of some CGI, becomes Hogwart's School.  We visit the maze of delightful streets of York, where we see scaffolding high up on its Cathedral.  The saying is it will return to Catholicism when the work is completed on the building, so the scaffolding remains there.  That evening we drive to the elegant country home of Vivien and Jeremy Cassel for a delicious dinner and scrumptious dark chocolate truffles.  The Cassels are listed in The Peerage (The Peerage is a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles in the UK and elsewhere in a Europe) and there is a relationship to the Barclay family.  

We visit Stratford-on-Avon on Thursday, and we visit Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's (his wife) home.  We continue on to London,  and we ride on the huge London Eye to see the sun set with Mary Lou from Arizona.  We say goodbye to our fellow travelers.

We thank Peter Lewis and Trafalgar/Brendan Tours for all we've seen and learned during these three weeks.  Phil and Craig were excellent coach drivers, managing to get our bus through the tiny roads we traveled.  Now, on to more adventures...

Irish Sea to Wales, England & Scotland - Oct. 10-14, 2018

Sunrise on the Irish Sea as we head back east to Wales and England

Peter Lewis, our Tour Director, and David, the town crier, in Chester

Clock Tower and “The Rows” in Chester - founded as a Roman fortress in the 1st century A.D.
“The Rows” is a sopping district with 2-level covered arcades and Tudor-style half timber buildings.

Liverpool Ferris Wheel next to the Echo Arena on the banks of the Mersey River

View of Liverpool from the Ferris Wheel

Mersey River from the Ferris Wheel

Evening stroll in Liverpool

Beatles memorial along the Mersey

Rainy day for our Lake Windermere cruise in England

Lovely scenery in spite of the rain

Hadrian's Wall near Lanercost, England 

Lanercost Priory 12th century

Beautiful colored leaves on a doorway at the Priory

Flag of Scotland

Greta Green Scotland

Square in Glasgow on a rainy day

Bridge near our hotel in Glasgow

Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands

 Touring the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides

 Neat little cabins to rent on the Isle of Skye

We didn't see a rainbow in Ireland but we saw two on the Isle of Skye

Portree Village in the Isle of Skye

Leaving the Isle of Skye

Eilean Donan - said to be the most beautiful castle in Scotland

The old ladies with Nessie

Beautiful, clear, COLD Loch Ness